Prices mean the same thing everywhere now. They mean the efficiency
or the inefficiency of the Nation, whether it is the Government that
pays them or not. They mean victory or defeat. They mean that America
will win her place once for all among the foremost free Nations of
the world, or that she will sink to defeat and become a second-rate
Power alike in thought and action. This is a day of her reckoning,
and every man among us must personally face that reckoning along with
her.
The case needs no arguing. I assume that I am only expressing your
own thoughts--what must be in the mind of every true man when he
faces the tragedy and the solemn glory of the present war, for the
emancipation of mankind. I summon you to a great duty, a great
privilege, a shining dignity and distinction.
I shall expect every man who is not a slacker to be at my side
throughout this great enterprise. In it no man can win honor who
thinks of himself.